Streams

Hot Licks for a Cold Season

Fiddler extraordinaire Mark O'Connor pulled together two great jazz/blues players -- virtuoso bassist John Patitucci and baby-faced guitarist Julian Lage -- for a three-night run at the Blue Note last week. The trio made their radio debut on WNYC's Soundcheck.

O'Connor is known for breaking down walls between musical styles, preferring to call classical, jazz and folk simply American Music. He has even launched his own method of teaching the violin, called the O'Connor Method, which focuses on American music.

His trio performed two country/blusy/jazzy tunes with echos of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt on acoustic instruments. O'Connor says they originally planned to include some electric numbers since they all swing that way, and Patitucci and Lage are quite known for playing electric intruments, but when he heard the all-acustic sound, he fell in love.

They don't have a name yet, but commentors on Soundcheck's website had these suggestions: Three Blind Mice, SwingByThree and Majoju.

WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820 are New York's flagship public radio
stations, broadcasting the finest programs from NPR, PRI and American Public Media, as well as a wide range of award-winning local
programming. WNYC is a division of
New York Public Radio.